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Pioneers | 45 1. A phrase that first appeared in nineteenth-century literature and criticism (including in an essay by Pisarev) to refer to a young woman of the noble class, usually with irony. 15 As soon as Eizerman had gone, Mirkin began speaking enthusiastically, with considerable agitation: “It’s essential to discuss a very important matter right now! It’s necessary to save a human being!” “Sonya Beryasheva!” Uler explained hastily. “Listen to what she writes!” Mirkin read her note aloud. “Do you know what produced this letter? Her father is giving her away in marriage against her will!” he added in horror. This emotion was communicated to the others. Faevich jumped down from his sleeping bench. He was very pale; the muscles in his face twitched nervously. Uler, standing in the middle of the room, stared with wild, wide-open eyes. Even Kornblat, continuing to sway back and forth over his textbook, raised his head and glanced at Mirkin with an expression of tormented suffering, as if he were experiencing a toothache again. “Who’s the intended? To whom is she being promised?” Uler, whose lips blanched from distress, asked in a half whisper. “Does it really make any difference?” Mirkin replied, and continued with indignation . “My hair stands on end at the very idea that in our age a father can give his daughter away in marriage against her will! What right does he have? Why, it’s the most enormous crime that one could possibly imagine! A human being is free—no one has the right to determine his fate!” he concluded energetically. “And what a human being she is,” Uler added in the same tone of voice. “If it were a simple young woman, some kind of ‘muslin lady,’ as Pisarev says.1 But such a human being as Sonya Beryasheva!” Faevich, nervously tugging at his beard, scurried to and fro around the room with his head bowed, deliberating. “Wait a moment! We must consider this matter carefully!” he said abruptly, pausing at the table. “What does it mean—to give her away in marriage against her own will? How can he give her away against her will? If she positively declares that she won’t accept the intended, can they really drag her to the altar against her will? I don’t understand! A human being has to possess strength of character. . . .” 46 | Pioneers 2. The Yiddish pronunciation for the Hebrew name Sarah, the equivalent of Sonya in Russian. 3. The Yiddish pronunciation of the Hebrew name Rachel. “Go to hell with your ‘strength of character,’” Uler interrupted him in a fury. “Didn’t you hear that she says she has no strength left? Give me that letter. What does she write? ‘I haven’t the strength to continue my struggle,’” he read. “And you say, ‘strength of character’!” “If you could only see what’s happening there,” Hillel inserted, “you’d understand how difficult the struggle is for her. . . .” “Tell us! Tell us in detail what’s going on,” cried the comrades. “What’s there to tell? There’s nothing to relate,” Hillel replied coldly, sitting down on the sleeping bench and preparing to relate the whole story in detail. “You know how it all started. When her father caught her strolling with the gymnasium student, he grabbed her by the hand, led her home, gave her a beating , and then tore up and burned all her books. When was that? Tuesday. On Wednesday I take my meals there. I arrived for dinner and immediately sensed something was amiss. Of course, I said nothing. I walked into the kitchen, and the cook told me everything. We sat down for dinner. The old man sat there, intimidating and angry. He was silent, wheezing, tossed his knife away, then his fork; glancing around like a wild animal, he was looking for something to find fault with. Everyone sat at the table in silence, holding his breath. Sonya wasn’t at dinner . He glanced over at her place once, then again, and abruptly said to his wife, ‘Where’s Soreh?2 I want her here for dinner!’ He banged his fist on the table. The old woman ran into the bedroom and returned with Sonya. She was pale, but serene , and sat down at the table in silence. Her father looked at her inquisitively but said nothing. Then he raised his head and noticed that she wasn’t eating; he harshly ordered, ‘Eat!’ She obeyed. Silence prevailed...

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